Colombia and Venezuela Boarder Dispute

The Republic of Colombia, known as Colombia, is the gateway country between Central and South America.Spanish is the native and main language spoken within this small county and is surrounded by Spanish speaking countries. Located in Northern South America that boarders the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, Columbia is the only South American country that contains coastlines on the North Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Colombia contains about 1 million square km. 

Tensions between Colombia and Venezuela has increased over the result of Venezuela closing boarder crossings to and from Colombia. The Venezuelan President Maduro chose to close down the boarder crossings due to an anti-smuggling operation that left three Venezuelan soldiers and one civilian injured on August 19. In addition, President Madura sent soldiers to conduct warrant-less search to deport Colombians staying on the Venezuelan side illegally. Finally on August 26, the Venezuelan and Colombian foreign ministers meet in Cartagena to talk about the issue. The result of this meeting was that both countries, Colombia and Venezuela, recalled their ambassadors. Finally, Venezuelan Vice President allowed Venezuelan children studying in Colombia cross the border. Currently, the two countries administrations are trying to work together to resolve this but nothing has been resolved. 

Deported Colombians prepare to board a bus from Venezuela

The boarder conflict hasn't only effected administrator relations but has largely made an economic impact. It has been estimated that the area has lost roughly 60 million in the first 20 days of the conflict. Venezuelans were preparing for tourist season that usually Colombian tourists account for 60 percent of tourists on the weekends. 

Venezuela is Colombia's fourth largest place that exports their products too. The border closings has hindered trade and jobs since trading provides roughly 50,000 jobs directly and 250,000 jobs indirectly. 

As of September 11, United Nations representative, Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon, has offered his services to help if both countries want it. Colombia has been a member of the United Nations (UN) since 1945. 

Hopefully, both administrations will be able to resolve the issue and open the boarder crossings back up soon. This conflict has effected economic and political tensions in such a short time that making this last for much longer will only make the tensions stronger between these two countries.